– To encourage an interest in becoming data-literate;
– To become comfortable with change;
– To make conceptual connections in cross-disciplinary information;
– To increase understanding that contributes to personal, civic, and social engagement;
– To be tolerant of multiple perspectives;
– To create or increase intellectual diversity.

Dr. John Spertus

Personalized Patient Outcomes

As a Director of Health Outcomes Research at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, Dr. John Spertus focuses on methods for assessing patients’ healthcare quality, and the use of information technology to guide medical decision-making based on risk-prediction models so that treatment can be safer, more cost-effective, evidence-based and patient-centered. Dr. Spertus was the first to develop evaluation strategies and instruments for predicting patient risks, which are now the gold standard for measuring patients’ symptoms, function, and quality of life. Dr. Spertus is also the recipient of the highly competitive Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Heart Association’s Quality of Care and Outcomes Research, which is given to researchers who have made extraordinary contributions to outcomes research and the improvement of cardiovascular care.

Rong Li

Biological Systems/Processes

Formerly an Investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Rong Li is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Cell Biology and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Whiting School of Engineering. Ms. Li brings a culturally fresh, direct, and actionable focus to complex questions, such as the prevention (not cure) of Cancer, through an understanding of the mechanisms of degeneration and aging. Ms. Li’s lab has recently discovered a third (mitochondrial) pathway for aging, which opens fields of research possibilities.

John Richard

Civic Engagement/Activism

John Richard is president of Essential Information, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging citizens to become active and engaged in their communities. He also supervises staff at The Center for Study of Responsive Law, the hub of Ralph Nader’s public interest activities in Washington, which includes consumer protection and public policy. Mr. Richard also pioneered the uses of GIS and data visualization to understand policy impacts.

Arthur Molella

Innovative Education

As the founding Director of the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, Dr. Arthur Molella developed a wide range of publications, exhibitions, and programs exploring innovation and creativity as a subject, and innovation and creativity within the realm of exposition. Dr. Molella currently serves as Director Emeritus and as a senior lecturer in the Department of History of Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University, as well as serving on the boards of the National Academy of Inventors and the MIT Museum.

Mark Hansen

Community Systems Architect

A former Navy SEAL, Mark Hansen is a result-oriented manager with multifaceted international strategic and operational skills, whose experience was critical in turning around LEGO Systems, Inc., making it the number one toy maker in the world. Mr. Hansen was the original architect of LEGO Factory and currently, as the Senior Director of LEGO Digital Play Studio, serves as the lead in the development of LEGO Universe, a massively multiplayer online game. Mr. Hansen has also successfully implemented and managed innovative, diverse new products; software and technology services/businesses; product licensing; theme parks; education centers; government/nonprofit entities; and brand/mass retail outlets.

Robin Reardon

Creative Systems Management

Robin Reardon is Executive Producer at Walt Disney Imagineering, and mistress of the disciplined intersection of Numbers and Creativity. Originally our client at MCA Universal, and now a colleague, Ms. Reardon currently directs some 600 Imagineers to create and produce the equities of the Star Wars/Disney Intellectual Property. An accomplished and effective leader, Ms. Reardon understands how to marshal and inspire creative energies in the service of measurable ends.

Rosalyn McPherson

Cultural/Community Engagement

Formerly the President and CEO of the Urban League of Philadelphia, Rosalyn McPherson currently serves as the President and Founder of the Roz Group, an innovative, strategic planning and marketing/communications firm that is especially adept at working with communities to ensure that everyone has a voice in the important issues that affect us as citizens and human beings. As part of her distinguished career in museum administration and educational publishing, Ms. McPherson developed educational materials and enhanced the tour experience for the Apollo Theater in New York City, served as the Senior Vice President and Publisher for Time Life Education, and editor for Time, Inc.

Nathan W. “Bill” Pearson

Management Systems

Bill Pearson is the Managing Director of Gallup Hill, LLC, a strategy and organizational consultancy that works closely with senior executives and private equity investors to achieve lasting performance improvements. As an operating executive, Mr. Pearson has served as co-CEO and CFO of a publicly held media company, CEO of a technology firm spun out of Motorola, and has led the restructuring, sale, and public offering of a technology company

Robert Strom

Economic Thinking

Dr. Robert Strom directed the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s commissioned research, working with the nation’s top scholars to advance knowledge in entrepreneurship, and is the co-editor of three books on entrepreneurship and economic growth. Prior to joining the Foundation, he was Assistant Vice President for public affairs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, and regularly speaks on entrepreneurship to professional and academic audiences.

Gerald Weinberg

Systems Thinking

Gerald Weinberg led the team that created the IBM 360 Operating System, as well as the Mercury and Gemini tracking systems. His 1970s mantra that technology can enhance lives, but also constrain lives if it forces us to conform to its functions and processes, are even more relevant today.

Thomas Volney Munson (in memoriam)

Dynamic Living Systems

A freethinker, inventor, philosopher, and grape-breeder credited with saving the vineyards of Europe from the Phylloxera scourge, Thomas Volney Munson was the second American, after Thomas Edison, to receive the Chevalier du Mérite medal. A proponent of Dynamic Agriculture, Mr. Munson saw cultures as responsive to their place in time, and held that it was not enough to have an idea in the mind—it had to be worked out in dialogue with the real world.

Benjamin Lawless (in memoriam)

Innovative Storytelling

As Former Director of Exhibits at the Smithsonian, Benjamin Lawless pioneered the practices of storytelling in exhibition design. Our 31-year association ended with his passing, but a memorial internship has been established at the Smithsonian to foster innovative storytelling in the next generation.

Taylor Bye contributes rigorous, multi-disciplinary research to the development of ContemPlace initiatives. Having served in AmeriCorps, a network of national service programs that improve lives and foster civic engagement, Mr. Bye contributes toward addressing critical community needs, and firmly believes that anonymous people can, and often do, change the world by learning and acting together.

Cheryl Muré

Education Program Designer

As President of TurnKey Education, Inc., Cheryl Muré is an experienced professional with extensive training in education, marketing, sales, business development, and management. Ms. Muré partners with blockbuster traveling shows, such as Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition and Bodies: The Exhibition to create integrated educational programs and experiences that align with curricula, and with 21st century thinking skills.

Bronwyn Llewellyn

Writer

Bronwyn Llewellyn has nearly four decades of experience crafting exhibit text for museums and science centers, including the Tech Museum of Innovation, where she wrote editorial guidelines later adapted and used by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the Liberty Science Center. Ms. Llewellyn’s breadth of knowledge and experience enables her to zero in on topics of specific and particular interest to each entity, and ensures key messages are highlighted in a comprehendible, interesting, and engaging manner.

Valerie Taylor

Content Developer

As a skilled content developer and interpretive planner, Valerie Taylor brings over 20 years of experience in developing stories, messaging, and themes for projects ranging from small visitor centers to very large, new museums, covering a breadth of natural/social history and science-related topics. Ms. Taylor is skilled at coordinating multiple team players, adept at managing large volumes of content-related material, and enjoys working with subject matter experts to extract key concepts and engaging stories.

William Ruggieri

Exhibit Designer

William Ruggieri has been involved in all phases of exhibition design and planning, including conceptual design, team management, detail design, and production supervision for over 35 years. As a senior exhibit designer, Mr. Ruggieri expertly defines techniques for communicating content intent, develops budgets, and ensures design solutions and strategies integrate with traffic flow and the overall architectural program.

Stephanie Reyer

Experience Designer

As the former Vice President of Exhibitions at the National Constitution Center, Stephanie Reyer led the organization’s efforts to produce and travel original exhibitions across the country. As a creative executive with more than 20 years’ experience developing award-winning exhibitions and design projects, Ms. Reyer has proven success in the interpretive development, design, and fabrication of engaging learning environments.

Jan Adkins

Writer/Illustrator

Formerly Director of Illustration for National Geographic Magazine, Jan Adkins has received numerous awards for his work published in over 37 books, many of them illuminating complex subject matter, and/or conveying complex information to children. Known to friends and colleagues as the “Explainer General,” Mr. Adkins possesses a particular skill in explaining complicated subjects in colorful detail so that general audiences can understand them.

David Brown

Interactive Systems Designer

David Brown is the former Technology Director for the GLOBE Program, a global citizen-science project now active in 110 countries around the world. Additionally, Mr. Brown was a communications researcher at JPL and spent three years at NASA Headquarters working on communications and data systems for the Space Station and Shuttle programs. As an exhibit design associate, he led the design and development of media and interactives for the International Civil Rights Museum and the National Museum of the Marine Corps, and continues to convey complex concepts through the use of digital media and interactive technologies, both in physical spaces and online.

Howard Litwak

Strategic Planner

Howard Litwak has served as an Owner’s Representative for the Annenberg Foundation/Trust at Sunnylands in Rancho Mirage, California, for the last 13 years. He also served as the Senior Project Manager for the Experience Music Project (now the Museum of Pop Culture), and continues to employ his keen ability for thinking and articulating on his feet to ensure our initiatives maintain forward momentum.

Vernita McMurtrey

Development Director

Vernita McMurtrey has more than 20 years of expertise in nonprofit executive management as well as a broad health industry background. Ms. McMurtrey was the Executive Director of the Hope Family Care Clinic and past President of TREES Consulting, specializing in training, research, and nonprofit education and management services. She also served as the Executive Director of the Missouri Health Insurance Pool for over 10 years. Having formerly served as Chair of the National Association of State Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans, and as current board member for Arts & AGEing KC, she brings her knowledge of Public Policy to ensure positive personal impact and an ongoing commitment to community engagement.

Gerard Eisterhold

President and Founder

Gerard Eisterhold is a leader in developing exhibits and engaging educational experiences that connect with diverse audiences. ContemPlace’s immersive and transformative informal learning environments leverage technology to social ends, and are rooted in his belief that exhibition and interpretive design will play an increasingly important role in the future of learning in America.